Cross View Blog

In less than a minute, a chainsaw makes an ugly stump out of a beautiful 100 year old cedar tree.  The sharp teeth of the saw rip through the tough trunk like a hot knife through butter. The tree is fatally amputated. Next year it will be firewood. Death wins again.

So it seems. Yet, wherever I walk in the forest, I see evidence of new life coming out of deadwood.  Without human intervention, sprouts and saplings break forth from rotting wood and become the next generation of forest growth. It's Nature's way of creating renewal and new life.

Likewise, life itself makes us vulnerable to sudden cuts and losses that within minutes alter the trajectory of our future.  For example - a fatal accident, a crippling diagnosis, being victimized by crime, a raging fire, a stroke, an unstoppable virus -  tear into the fabric of our lives and we are helplessly left with nothing but an ugly stump. Being "stumped" in this fallen world happens all the time. 

Faced with barren stumps, however, we dare not despair. We must trust the promises of The Lord of Life to generate new life out of the  deadwood of our past. Rather than giving in to hopelessness or bitterness, we trust that God is " Lord of the Stump."

Jesus appeared to be stumped on the cross. He suffered cruel lashing and sharp spikes that lacerated His flesh.  He breathed his last and died. A perfectly innocent human cut down in the prime of life. It looked as if cruelty and death triumphed again.

Incredibly,  He surprised everyone by rising from His tomb and the Spirit of the Lord rested on Him. From that Good Friday stump grew His new people enlivened by the Spirit. The Apostles were fruitful and gave birth to a new generation, called The  Church. Motivated by the Gospel, they changed the course of  history. A New People, grew out of the deadwood  and failure of the past.

Isaiah prophesied in chapter 11: